Eight-Point Checklist: Emails That Get Results

Email remains one of the most popular marketing tactics in the industrial sector. However, to be effective with email marketing, you have to overcome a number of challenges.

First, everybody’s inbox is crowded — how do you stand out from other emails and capture your audience’s attention? Another challenge is making sure your email looks right. Industrial professionals read email on a variety of devices including desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones, and each device renders content differently. Of course, there’s the entire relevancy challenge: Are you providing information that your audience wants and will act upon?

You can overcome these challenges and get better results from your
marketing emails by following this eight-point checklist for success:

1. Identify a measurable goal. For every email you send, even one within a drip campaign series to nurture long-term leads, identify a goal that you can measure. This will help you create a concise, targeted email because every decision you face about crafting the email can be compared to the goal you have in mind. The goal could be number of opens, conversions, downloads, shares, or any other metric that aligns with your objectives.

2. Create immediate interest with the subject line and from line. When your audience scans their inbox, they’re quickly glancing at who has sent emails and what they are about. To capture attention, make sure the from line is identifiable to your audience. Use your company name and/or an individual’s name your audience will recognize.

In the subject line, provide value to recipients, such identifying a key customer challenge you will help solve, or offer a complimentary white paper or a webinar that will help them with a work-related issue. You can also create a sense of urgency by reminding your audience that time is running out to register for an event or that an offer is only valid for a certain period.

3. Quickly tell your story. Even the most engaged audience doesn’t have the time or motivation to read through long, dense emails. Use your subject line, headline, and first line or two of copy to tell your entire story, including what your email is about, why it’s important to your audience, and what you want them to do. Use bulleted lists and short paragraphs for easy scanning. Here are three words that always describe your marketing emails: clear, specific, concise.

4. Repeat your call to action. You’re sending marketing emails because you want your audience to do something. Make that part obvious by including a call to action (such as download, register, read, watch, etc.) in a number of places and using different styles. Put the first call to action near the top because some recipients will be sold right away based on your quick and compelling offer. Others will read through and then consider taking action, so you need a call to action near the bottom. Use both text and graphical buttons.

5. Add imagery, colors, and graphics. Plain text emails lack visual interest. By adding imagery such as photos, graphics, infographics, and buttons, you can make your email stand out and reinforce your company’s visual branding. You can even add multimedia such as video into the email. However, you should always give recipients the option of receiving plain text emails when they opt-in to your list. Tools offered by email marketing service providers will automatically create plain text versions of HTML emails.

6. Use responsive design. Responsive design can detect what type of device a recipient is using to read the email and will render the email optimally for that type of device, ensuring that all text and graphics look the best they can. Whether you are using an email marketing service provider or an in-house solution as your email platform, be sure you can create emails with responsive designs.

7. Keep testing. To get the best results from marketing emails, you should test different elements to see what performs best. The simplest tests are A/B splits, where you split your list in half and test one element in the email, such as the subject line or the placement/wording of the offer. With each subsequent test, you will learn a little more about what works and can incorporate your learning into future emails.

8. Segment your list. This tip isn’t about crafting an email, but segmenting your list will tell you what type of email you need to craft. Segment your list based on relevant criteria in your database, such as products owned, expressed areas of interest, geography, or other attributes. With a segmented list, you can create emails more targeted to your audience’s interest and needs and that kind of relevancy is the single biggest factor in getting the results you want from your email campaigns.